The vehicle provided with an internal combustion engine is generally provided with a catalyst for purifying the exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine. Unless the temperature of this catalyst reaches an active temperature, the exhaust gas cannot be fully purified. Thus, an electrically heated catalyst (which will be hereinafter referred to as an “EHC”) is conventionally proposed that is configured to have a catalyst which can be heated by an electric heater and the like.
With regard to the vehicle provided with an EHC, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-192820 (PTL 1) discloses a vehicle including a fuel cell, an EHC and a DC/DC converter which converts a high voltage supplied from the fuel cell into a low voltage that can be supplied to the EHC and supplies the low voltage to the EHC.